My neighbor and are both having trouble with crows eating green tomatoes. Time to get the .22 out! It's odd because I've never had this happen before and didn't think crows liked tomatoes. They don't eat the whole thing, just peck at the edges and break them off the plant.
I've heard of birds going after ripe tomatoes, but not green ones. As much rain as your area has been getting, you wouldn't think the crows would be hurting for food and/or water. They'd have trouble getting to the green tomatoes on my plants. I've got them caged, and I may have fed them a bit too much Miracle Grow, because the foliage is so thick I have to look hard for the tomatoes. I bought some "deer fencing" last year that's a black plastic netting. Not much good for deer, but you could drape it over your plants and probably keep the birds out. I'm saving it for use on my fruit trees, if and when I ever get them big enough to bear fruit.
Chuck - The deer fencing is a good idea. I already have some. Now if I can figure out a way to keep it from getting entagled in the plants without having to build up some kind of framework first ...
I've got most of my tomatoes in two 40' rows. I could run a line between posts at each end and drape the netting over that. Of course, I don't have the bird problem, and I don't think the netting would keep out the hornworms that are giving me problems with my tomatoes!
I pulled one off yesterday that acted like it was gonna start on me next! Then I noticed a few other bare twigs, but couldn't find the worms responsible. Someone ought to develop a red-stemmed tomato plant so we could more easily spot those beasties...though I guess they'd just mutate to red themselves. Anyway, I hit my tomatoes with Sevin, too. I kind of hate to do that. I'm not an organic gardener, and I'm not particularly chemophobic, but I don't like to spread any more insecticides than I have to. On the other hand, I'm getting tomatoes this year even if I have to make them glow in the dark! What really ticked me off was that after finding that one worm and joyfully smooshing him, I spent several minutes looking for his friends without success. It was hot as the dickens and sweat started puring down my face and onto my glasses. About then I noticed the red-orange glow of a ripe tomato through the thick foliage in one of the cages. I reached in and felt it and it seemed right, but my vision was blurred. When I got it out and looked at it, it was clear that a couple more days on the vine would have greatly improved it, and it was otherwise perfect. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Big, beautiful, Better Boy. Picked too soon! It was the dang worm's fault!
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